this is the story.

went to dunkin donuts, got out went to the car start it up, and its cut out on me. i thought my battery went bad but it didnt. I went to go shake the battery terminal a lil, and start up the car again. But my gauges black out on me, and nothing from the gauge is working after that(rpm ,mph,gas, engine temp).
Check the gauge fuse its still good, i check all the fuse from the drive kick panel, passenger kick panal, under the hood. any ideas, please let me know.

 

Remove the + terminal on your battery for about 15 seconds and reconnect your lights will come back on.

 

Make sure that the terminal is also tight....I had the same thing happen to me..Took it to the dealer and they were baffled because everything they checked was fine. one of the techs was finally checked the battery terminal and found that it was loose, tightened it up and I was on my way!!!!

 

is battery acting low on charge? when voltage gets too low, it starts shutting off gauges, ac, radio etc. before it dies to conserve power.

when my battery was dying, the telescopic steering wheel would quit moving while starter was turning over, then it would continue to it's spot after car started.

could be bad battery or loose or rusty terminal connection.

 

i got a yellow top OPTIMA battery. I heard once the battery goes out, its really hard for it to be charge back.

couple weeks ago my dad leave my door opened all night long.

 

The OPTIMA BATTERY is a strange one. The battery will give tremendous amounts of current, but that has to be replaced by the alternator, and that takes longer than it does a lead acid battery. It will deliver HIGH amperage, but it likes to have that replaced quickly. Repeated starting and stopping without replacing the amps will result in failure. The alternators in our cars are NOT designed to recharge weak or dead batteries. A battery charger should be used, or on severely discharged batteries it is possible to burn out your alternator trying to charge the battery. WORD TO THE WISE!

The technology is different. Instead of lead and acid, it uses a ROLLED GLASS MAT, and there is no liquid inside..just paste. That allows for higher charge rates without boiling over. They can take a steady 150 amps maximum while charging, as long as the battery does not get too hot.

Our alternators put out about 90 amps max, so it is just fine for it.

WIth lead/acid, the battery is considered to be fully charged at about 12.4 volts DC. On the OPTIMA, 12.4 volts DC is still 50% discharged. It is not fully charged until it reaches 12.8 and HOLDS it after it is allowed to sit for 2 hours after charging. After charging, it slowly trickles down until it levels out to a certain level.

If it is still below 12.8 after 2 hours sitting with no charging going on, it has to be recharged AGAIN until it stays at 12.8.

I work with these batteries everyday in San Diego, and many of them are thrown away because they are thought to be bad. The WORST thing you can do to an OPTIMA battery is to SLOWLY discharge it..(such as leaving a light on for a day or better, or what the military guys do...leave the ignition switch on our tractors on overnight by mistake). When that happens, the battery has to be "conditioned", or brought all the way down, and charged for a couple of days to slowly build it back up. Otherwise, it will continue to fail. because it is still too low to operate the car.

If you have a couple of days that you don't need the car, put a battery charger on it in your garage and charge it continuously for 2 days at 30 or 40 amps. If it is any good, it will come back up again. Or, you could take it back where you got it, and exchange it for a new one. They will check it and do what I just described, and if good, it wil be ready to go. The longer it stays discharged, the worse it will be for the battery, and it may not come back up if ignored.

SOUNDS WIERD I know, but that is how it has to be recharged if it drops too low. The OPTIMA website has this info posted. The battery is totally dead at 10.5 volts, and MAY NOT recover from that low voltage.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[QUOTE=gserep1]The OPTIMA BATTERY is a strange one. [QUOTE]

Interesting information. I always had a curiousty about the Optima brand of batteries. If I ever do replace with one I'm glad I read this post.

 

heyy i am finally on to CLUB LEXUS - yah as long your troubles are gone eh?
-Simon

 

I have a Optima Yellow top in my car. I thought these batteries were able to take that constant beating of severe discharge and recharge. Isn't that why these are called DEEP cycle?

I have used this battery for about 3years now and it is still going strong! It was in my last car for 2.5 yrs and now in the GS for half a year. I know of no other battery that can do that.

Anyways, my point being I have done what gserep1 described is horrible for the battery. Of course not on purpose but it has happened a few times. Such as leaving the dome about two days and having to jump start the car. Also, I used to have a car computer in my previous car and sometimes I would forget to turn off the computer and that would drain the battery down pretty bad. Not to mention the subs I had

These batteries might be strange ones, but so far IMO nothing can match!

 

On a mildly related note, how long do you all have to crank your car to get it started. I feel like I have to turn it over a good 1.5-2 seconds before it fires up. Didn't know if I may need a battery, if that is typical. My wife's Pilot turns over immediately.

 

even with a brand new battery, my GS takes a little longer to start than you would expect. I think I remember reading it had to do with the VVTi.

I know what you mean though, most cars start as soon as the starter turns, but my GS takes a second like you said. I think it's normal.

 

Thanks, that's what I WANTED to hear for once.

 

There are several variables to how fast it will start. Cold start is usually a lot harder. On a hot start such as fill up at gas station where engine has been off for 5 mins will be a lot shorter. My car is pretty much new (5months now)and it takes me just about 1 to 1.5 seconds to turn over in the morning.

Another thing is that the engines in both the GS430 and GS300 are somewhat high compression motors. The more cylinders you have and the higher compression the engine is....the starter has to work much harder to start the motor. I'm curious to how many amps the starter on a V12 Lambo pulls during cranking?

 

my 430 is opposite. it starts faster on first startup of the day.

 

Jeff,

Let's be real,. The # of cylinders has nothing to do with the compression ratio. You may need a new battery because 1 to 1.5 second to turn over the engine does not sound right for a GS.